Life, 1929-04-05 · page 55 of 56
Life — April 5, 1929 — page 55: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a **Packard automobile advertisement** from Life magazine's early 20th century. The page uses patriotic imagery comparing Packard's industrial innovation to American frontier expansion ("earlier Americans in opening a western empire to progress"). The photograph shows workers with industrial equipment, positioning the company as a pioneer of modern manufacturing. The advertisement emphasizes Packard's engineering achievements: refined straight-eight motors, shock-absorbing systems, and quality bodies. The slogan "ASK THE MAN WHO OWNS ONE" was Packard's actual marketing tagline, appealing to prestige and reliability. The side-profile illustration shows a luxury convertible automobile, typical of 1920s-30s advertising aesthetics. **For modern readers:** This represents how luxury car brands marketed themselves through claims of technological superiority and American industrial progress—a common advertising strategy of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PACKARD Packard has pioneered as boldly in modem industry as earlier Americans in opening @ western empire to progress Packard has ever looked beyond the boundaries of accepted practice to new horizons. A policy of pioneering research, established thirty years ago, has guided not only designing engineers, but those charged with the development of Packard manufacturing mechods. Packard technicians have provided the specialized tools and machines, the new steels and the advanced processes for fabricating materials, which translate the original creative engineering into prac- tical usefulness. ASK THE MAN Packard engineers have refiaed and im- proved the famous straight-eight motor, with its nine-bearing crankshaft. They have perfected the new and unique Packard Shock Absorbing System, And Packard designers have enriched the fundamental beauty and distinction of Packard bodies. The latest refinements and improve- ments which have added to Packard's supremacy in the fine car field are the natural result of a spirit never satisfied and an intent ever to excel, comicbooks.com